Destiny is set in the 28th century in a post-apocalyptic setting. Humans spread and colonized the Solar System with the help of a spherical entity known as "the Traveler" who reshaped the universe and taught us new technologies and mystical powers that led to a time later called the Golden Age. An event known as "The Collapse", an attack from the Darkness that saw the dissolution of these colonies and left the human race on the brink of extinction. The only known survivors are those living on Earth, who were saved by the Traveler. The Traveler hovers above the last remaining human city, and its presence allows the Guardians of the City, the ability to wield an unknown power.

Destiny is a Sci-Fi Fantasy First Person Shooter. The player takes the role of a "Guardian" and must set foot in the wild frontier with your fireteam to defend the city and reclaim what has been lost. You are also partnered with your AI companion know as a "Ghost" (voiced by Peter Dinklage).

Bungie has labeled Destiny as a "Shared World Shooter". Players seamlessly matchmake with other Guardians, even when playing solo, and you can regularly witness other Guardians' adventures and may even combine efforts in the wild, together. Destiny borrows social elements from MMOs, and character creation/investment elements from RPGs. There are cooperative and competitive elements, but you can go alone, you're just not alone in this world.

Destiny also enhances the social aspect of gaming through the Destiny Companion, Cooperative, Public Events, Stats and discussion. Destiny incorporates a leveling system not only for the player, but for their weapons, gear, ships and loot streams. Players can choose to join Factions to fight against other Guardians in PvP or can choose to spend time "solo" where you can find exclusive loot.

Destiny is designed from the ground up to be better when you play it with your friends. You can have solitary cinematic experiences, but the game entices you to participate in cooperative events. Destiny is the first game of a brand new 10 year IP from Bungie. It requires an online connection, there is no offline play.

Guardians

Players take on the role of a "Guardian" the defendants of the last safe city on earth. In Destiny, you can choose from different races (Human, Exo, Awoken) as well as Classes (Titan, Warlock, Hunter). While your race only impacts cosmetically, your class will impact your playstyle. Players can have up to three Guardian profiles on a single account, and you can use the "Vaults" in the Tower to trade items between your own Guardians.

There are four known enemy races to the last safe city. Each of them have home planets that you'll see more of and there may be instances where you'll see enemies encounter each other. Enemies come in all shapes and sizes and different classes of enemies within each race, including boss battles.

Destinations

At launch, players will be able to visit these locations. Each location includes one "explorable" play space, several story missions, strikes and crucible maps. Players will come across other live players while exploring to meet up with or pass by. The only exception of Mercury, which has only been announced to only have one Crucible Map "Burning Shrine". Mercury is not fully explorable like the other destinations.

Game Modes

The last safe city on Earth. The tower is a social hub that gathers Guardians together upgrade their weapons, gear, ships, armor and more. You can attain bounties for missions against AI or other players to get rewards. When Guardians visit the Tower, they will be placed in 3rd person mode.

Destiny's Campaign Storyline. You can choose to venture this alone or with your FireTeam.

Choose to explore alone or with your friends. These are public spaces where you can see other Fire Teams and come across Public Events. Use this mode to find rare loot, complete beacon missions and to venture out in the wild.

Destiny's Competitive Multiplayer. Play against other Guardians to test your skill and earn rewards specific to Crucible. Maximum player limit is 6v6, you can search in Crucible Matchmaking with a full team of 6 players.

Cooperative Fire Team Mission. Entering a Strike, you will start in a public space where you can meet other Guardians similar to Explore. When you begin a Strike you will be separated to only your Fire Team.

Destiny's ultimate cooperative mode with six Guardians. There is no matchmaking, the only known Raid is "The Vault of Glass". Good luck.

Enhanced Features

Fire Team- Destiny's cooperative elements are broken to it's most basic form "Fire Teams". A Fire Team consists of three players where you can choose to tackle Destiny's game quests and competitive multiplayer together. Some gamemodes feature coordination of multiple Fire Teams.

Focus - Your Guardian will specialize in Focus that will determine your class specific abilities. Each category within a Focus can be upgraded as you advance through it's skill tree. Some Foci have a minimum player level to unlock them. They are the primary way to level and improve your Guardian in the form of a subclass. Each focus has a leveling system from 1-20. Within these levels comes a tier system in which you can choose how you want your focus to turn out, obtaining unique abilities along the way.

Private Loot Stream - You don't have to worry about your buddies or strangers stealing your loot. Destiny's loot system is built so you only find rewards that are meant for you. Loot can be found in all gamemodes. In Crucible, you will attain loot at the end of a game. In Explore, Strikes, Raids and Story you can find loot boxes for you and your fireteam. They may be in a different location should you return.

Character Progression - Your Guardian will be the Guardian you use across all your gamemodes. You can create up to three Guardians on a single PSN/XBL account. Choose your class and race and unlock abilities for your Guardian as you rank up.

Public Events - In public spaces, you will come across "Public Events" which are are missions for any Guardian (regardless of Fire Team) that choose to participate. These events only occur when there are enough active players in a play space at designated times. You gain experience and rewards for your Guardian if you choose to take part.

Sparrow - Each Guardian will be able to spawn a Sparrow (mobile transport vehicle) that you can use to get around in public spaces quicker. You can upgrade your Sparrow at the tower to more advanced control schemes and cosmetic looks. The Sparrow has no guns attached, only for transport.

Active Roster - Bungie's way for you to see what friends are online for you at a glance. This is within your start menu. You can see who is in your FireTeam, who is on your friends list, and who is in the same playable space with you. This is built in-game so you don't have to leave to your dashboard to invite a friend to play.

Hidden Ghosts - Throughout Explore, Strikes, Raids, Missions and the Tower, there are hidden ghosts to be found in the most unlikely of locations. Each one counts towards your Grimoire score and can include bits of lore found when reading Grimoire Cards.

Grimoire Score - Bungie's active progression system that keeps track of all kills with weapon/style/supers on enemy types and mixed scenarios (including hidden ghosts, vehicle kills and much more). Each "tier" of Grimoire scales up in points and your Grimoire Score is a running total of ALL your Guardians on your account, which can be found in game, through the companion app or on bungie.net.

Clan Support - Destiny incorporates Clan Support when tied to your Clan on bungie.net. Destiny is designed to be played with friends, join up or start your own. There is a Clan for DestinyGAF, keep scrolling for information!

I'd buy it. First hour or so as Shogo right up until Shuya ends up at the lighthouse, go to the end of the first film/book as him then switch to main characters from the second film. The beach landing could be the new Omaha Medal of Honour moment.

The Holly and Delusi wrote:PENALTY: Blatant lies. Five minutes in the Sin Bin.

On balance Bungie's only truly AAA game was Halo Combat Evolved and they have been milking it ever since imo. Personally I think everything non-halo they do from now is not going to be of the same quality, but we shall see.

consolegaming wrote:On balance Bungie's only truly AAA game was Halo Combat Evolved and they have been milking it ever since imo.

Sometimes, opinions can be wrong.

This article doesn't really make sense to me, there's a lot of speculation that Bungie went with Acti because of their MMO pedigree, suggesting their next game would be an MMO (obviously this wouldn't prevent it from being an FPS too). I don't think EA really have anything like that in their catalogue. Also, the deal with Acti is just for this one franchise, there's nothing to stop Bungie's next game appearing under the EA label.

Rumor: Bungie teases a “world that is always there for you” during GDC Online

Oh Bungie, you big tease. When will you tell us what you are working on over at Activision, and when will you say whether or not it’s an MMO?

Speaking during GDC Online 2010 in Texas today, Bungie creative director Joe Staten hinted around about Bungie’s next project and teased what it could be with an answer to a question posed.

“Wouldn’t it be great if we could make a world that was always there for you?”, replied Staten. “Wow. That would be great.”

The comment just adds more fuel to the Bungie MMO fire that’s been slowly smoldering for quite a while.

Last we heard, Bungie’s Brian Jarrard refused to confirm or deny to us if the new IP the studio is working on is, in fact, an MMO or not. However, Activision’s Thomas Tippl said during the announcement of the Bungie deal online was “expected” to be a big part of Bungie’s new game. That could mean online multiplayer though, not necessarily an MMO.

So, we should just take Bungie’s latest tease as just that for the time being. Hopefully, something concrete will be announced soon.

I love the concept of a proper FPS MMO, but there are so many obstacles and the compromises other devs use just render their games worthless. But if anyone can do it, it's Bungie. Too bad it'll be probably be made for console.